You can celebrate Christmas this weekend not with Bach or Handel, but with a generation or two of German composers who preceded them: Heinrich Schutz, Johann Schein, and Dieterich Buxtehude (born in Denmark but a longtime resident of Lubeck, Germany). Their music may be heard less often than Bach's or Handel's, but it offers multiple pleasures of its own. Some of their joyous Advent and Christmas music for instruments and voices will be performed by Publick Musick this Friday at Incarnate Word Lutheran Church. The performers include organist Naomi Gregory and a solid roster of outstanding singers and string players — and possibly you, as the program includes sing-along Christmas chorales.

Publick Musick presents "A German Baroque Christmas" on Friday, December 12 at Incarnate Word Lutheran Church, 597 East Avenue. 7 p.m. Pre-concert talk begins at 6:15 p.m. $15-$50, students $10, and free for those age 17 and under. publickmusick.org.